Can't Save Them All

My heart sank when I saw him in the box. He was so small and helpless, eyes closed, covered with burrs that were sticking his wing to the towel beneath him, at a strange angle. At first I thought he was dead, and had to touch him to assure myself he wasn’t.

I hustled the fledgling Western screech owl into my car already filled with people, and put the box on Jaime’s lap. It was her job to gently start picking the burrs out of his feathers as I drove as fast as I dared to Laurel’s house, fully expecting him not to make it.

She was waiting with the bird emergency first aid kit. We immediately sub-Q’d him with Lactate Ringers. He didn’t even open his eyes. Looking in his mouth, we were shocked to see it completely dry and totally white. He was worse than any bird either of us had seen since we started rehabbing.

I noticed a small black dot crawling on my hand. We realized he was covered with them, burrowing into his skin, sucking the life out of him. They were some sort of tick. Not only was he completely dehydrated, but he was extremely anemic, as well.

We began heating towels in the microwave, spraying them with bird lice spray, and wrapping him in them. We took turns holding him to keep him warm, and kept giving him fluids about every 30 minutes. My sister Nancy, niece Sachiko and her friend Jaime were all very concerned and wanting to help by taking turns holding him in the warm towel.

We finally had to tear ourselves away, since we had other plans waiting for us. None of us wanted to leave him, although I knew in my heart that he was in the absolute best hands he could be in.

I had a sinking feeling, but tried to think positively about him. I called Laurel later, and when she asked “did you get my message?”, I knew what that message was.

Of course I know we can’t save them all, but that knowledge didn’t make it any easier to hear that he had just been too far gone. Mother Nature evidently had other plans for him.


(July 2009)